After the king of Persia had given this order, he returned to the
fair slave again. "Madam," said he, "pardon me for leaving you so
abruptly, since you have been the occasion of it; but I hope you
will indulge me with some conversation, since I am desirous to
know of you several things of much greater consequence. Tell me,
my dearest soul, what were the powerful reasons that induced you
to persist in that obstinate silence for a whole year together,
though every day you saw me, heard me talk to you, ate and drank
with me, and every night slept with me? I shall pass by your not
speaking; but how you could carry yourself so as that I could
never discover whether you were sensible of what I said to you or
no, I confess, surpasses my understanding; and I cannot yet
comprehend how you could contain yourself so long; therefore I
must conclude the occasion of it to be very extraordinary."

"To satisfy the king of Persia's curiosity," replied the lady,
"think whether or no to be a slave, far from my own country,
without any hopes of ever seeing it again, to have a heart torn
with grief, at being separated forever from my mother, my
brother, my friends, and my acquaintance, are not these
sufficient reasons for the silence your majesty has thought so
strange and unaccountable?

The love of our native country is as natural to us as that of our
parents; and the loss of liberty is insupportable to everyone who
is not wholly destitute of common sense, and knows how to set a
value on it. The body indeed may be enslaved, and under the
subjection of a master, who has the power and authority in his
hands; the will can never be conquered, but remains free and
unconfined, depending on itself alone, as your majesty has found